Tour Down Under – Stage 5 Willunga Countback!

What an exhilarating stage up Old Willunga hill and a massive day for the fans. I had tipped Valverde to win the stage but I didn't expect Gerro to be so close behind (only a few inches). If he had held off a few meters before starting his sprint Gerro would be the clear winner and there would be no countback.

In this situation where both Gerro and Valverde hold the exact same time on GC the following rules are called into play:

2.6.015: Where two or more riders make the same time in the general individual time placings, the fractions of a second registered during individual time trials (including the prologue) shall be added back into the total time to decide the order.

If the result is still tied or if there are no individual time trial stages the placings obtained in each stage shall be added and, as a last resort, the place obtained in the last stage ridden shall be taken into consideration.

This means that Valverde’s stage win doesn’t break the tie. The riders’ aggregate stage placings which decides the leader. Therefore Gerro goes into the lead using the countback rules above. He’s finished 35th, 3rd, 20th, 17th and 2nd over the past five stage. Valverde has finished 58th, 4th, 54th, 33rd and 1st.

GreenEDGE will have a strong advantage in tomorrow’s stage with their experience and speed. All Gerro needs to do is not finish more than 73 positions behind Valverde (which will likely be a bunch kick). This shouldn’t be too difficult for Gerro, but it’ll be a tense stage for us to watch tomorrow!

Last but not least I’d like to thank Norwood Cycling Club (the oldest cycling club in Australia – est. 1893) for hosting a massive party on Willunga and creating the best crowd atmosphere on the hill. They also showed us some beautiful rides and made some great snaggers!